Equipment

[Brian Treadwell]

Hey Guys , Saturday I ran across a deal could not pass up , I now have another 90 gallon tank with center overflow , came with a Odyessea T5 fixture with two metal halides and eight LED moonlights , going to set up another tank but have heard Metal Halides need to run for limited times during the day and is better to have a glass top on tank are just open and no tops.

 

[briancarterkc]

Whoop! Exciting acquisition!

Halides are the old standby. Fighting for dominance by LEDs these days, but many old timers swear by them. You can pretty much grow anything with metal halides plus T5s. That was my setup years ago. I had the T5s come on around 4pm, halides on at 6pm, halides off at 12am, T5s off at 2am (ensured the tank was on full display during the rare late house party).

Problem with both T5 and halides is the bulbs need replacing every six months or so...otherwise the spectrum starts to drift towards the algae-friendly zone.

I didn't follow your comment about glass tops...but generally a bad idea with any light. Condensation will obscure the light, and you might even get algae growing on the glass. Or, are you asking if the MH lights should have covers? If so, yes...MH bulbs are really sensitive (like, don't even get fingerprints on them or they could blow out) so make sure your fixtures have covers.

 

[Brian Treadwell]

you had it right , my tank now is 90 gallon but has the glass lids , and have LEDs on it one is the orbit marine pro and the otherFluvial full spectrum LED , tank seems to be well lit but have never check the PAR reading , is there a lot more evaporation with open top.

 

[briancarterkc]

you had it right , my tank now is 90 gallon but has the glass lids , and have LEDs on it one is the orbit marine pro and the otherFluvial full spectrum LED , tank seems to be well lit but have never check the PAR reading , is there a lot more evaporation with open top.

Yes. You definitely have more evap with an open top but you'll find probably 90% either have an open top or just some kind of mesh or egg crate to stop jumpers. My 65 is open top and I lose about 1 gallon a day in the summer and about 1.5 in the winter when ambient humidity is lower.

The MH will be a lot more powerful than what you've got now so if you're moving the same corals, I would start with a pretty short photoperiod on the MH (like 2-3 hours) and corals lower in the tank. Every week add 30 minutes til you get to six-eight hours...back off if you notice bleaching. After eight weeks, you can start moving corals up to where you want them.

 

[Untamedrose]

Had glass on mine...seemed like I was cleaning them every...sometimes twice a day to keep the salt off other wise I'd be reducing light penetration....plus a daily top off lol. Easier to just do a bit larger top off.

 

[Brian Treadwell]

Cool , thanks and by they way there where skimmers , sumps , stands , three different LED lights , three little nano tanks , four are five wave makers , pumps just tons of stuff , now I have to clean it all up.

 

[Brian Treadwell]

I do clean my very regular and I do have an ATO , but my LEDs just sit on the rim of the tank , was trying to keep them a little cleaner, but maybe I should remove them.

 

[Untamedrose]

Sounds like a great deal :)

 

[Diesel]

We love pics here from all the new goodies you got my friend.

 

[Brian Treadwell]

When I get it all cleaned up I will , this guy just drained he's tank and let it set it is pretty bad salt everywhere , he even left all the LR in tank but for 250.00 I could not pass it up.

 

[Brian Treadwell]

This a picture of my garage after unloading everything

 

[Brian Treadwell]

And that is the part I have not cleaned up yet, all of the LED lights and nano tanks my wife cleaned up and brought in the house ,she even set up a little six gallon salt , not sure how that is going to work out.

 

[Brian Treadwell]

During some of the clean up of this equipment , that I keep putting off I found a UV sterilizer , would love to now everyone's oppinnion on UV sterilizes in saltwater reef tanks. Thanks